Bullethead
Storm Eagle Studios
After reading Bill44's account of his slaughter of the PA clippers and gunboats, I had to post this up. Those little ships are some of my favorites. I call them the "Port Arthur Yacht Club". The attached pic shows just how dangerous they can be if there's a threat to their portfolios and trust funds 
. Note the smoking debris field between Bobr and Sivuch marking the grave of Takao while Fuso explodes in the background.
Actually, the pic is somewhat misleading. Not show just off the left side of the pic are Pobyeda, Sevastopol, Poltava, and Petropavlovsk :clown: So what really happened?
On the night of 16 Feb 1904, the slightly battered, very tired, and low-ammo Bogatyr was approaching Port Arthur after a rather successful sortie from Vladivostok. She had destroyed 2 marus, a gunboat, an auxiliary cruiser, and a torpedoboat, crippled several other TBs, and captured a German steamer. Admiral Bulletsiev realized that she was in no condition to run the blockade, even at night, and so determined to do something about it. His plan was to sortie all his available ships to sweep the blockading Japanese away, meet Bogatyr, and escort her into harbor. "All available ships" meant just 4 BBs, 15 DDs, and the "Port Arthur Yacht Club", because Peresviet and Diana were still under repair from their engagment with the Chitose group and the other ships had not yet recovered from the sneak attack. Pobyeda had only returned to service the day before.
Bulletsiev sortied at sundown. He had not gone far when the twilight's last gleaming showed up Fuso and Takao fine on the port bow of his flagship, right amongst the "Yacht Club". Meanwhile, the screening destroyers reported 4 Japanese TBs on the port quarter. The situation was complicated by numerous minefields in the area, which made an orderly approach to the battle quite difficult.
While the destroyers turned about and chased the TBs away, herding them towards the shore batteries, Bulletsiev concentrated on the heavier ships. Fuso was Japan's first battleship, an ancient central battery ironclad now rerated as a cruiser. Thus, while her armor was worthless against modern battleship guns, it could stand up to most of the "Yacht Club's" weapons, except perhaps for the bow guns of Bobr and Sivuch. Because the Russian BBs were heading nearly directly at the Japanese ships, however, only Pobyeda could fire at first. This left the "Yacht Club" to carry the brunt of the action. The clippers and Gilyak took on Takao while Bobr and Sivuch brought their bow guns to bear on Fuso.
The Japanese were heading NW with the battleships to their N, the gunboats to their W, and the clippers to their SW. The Japanese turned 16 points to port in succession in an attempt to escape to the SE, while the Russian BBs turned 8 points to port to bring their broadsides to bear. Fire from the "Yacht Club" soon had Takao well alight and as she turned behind Fuso, her smoke obscured that ship so Sivuch and Bobr turned their attention to her. Meanwhile, the clippers had pulled ahead of the Japanese and shifted their fire to Fuso. Fortunately for the "Yacht Club", the Japanese concentrated their fire on Pobyeda during this time.
By the time the Russian battleships were all able to fire, Fuso was already heavily damaged from the "Yacht Club's" attentions and Takao was already sinking. Fuso now suffered the fire of all the Russian ships and soon exploded. There is some debate as to who fired the fatal shot, but the preponderance of the evidence suggests it was the 2ndary battery of Petropavlovsk. Nevertheless, the "Yacht Club" can claim to have done most of the damage to her before the explosion.
. Note the smoking debris field between Bobr and Sivuch marking the grave of Takao while Fuso explodes in the background.Actually, the pic is somewhat misleading. Not show just off the left side of the pic are Pobyeda, Sevastopol, Poltava, and Petropavlovsk :clown: So what really happened?
On the night of 16 Feb 1904, the slightly battered, very tired, and low-ammo Bogatyr was approaching Port Arthur after a rather successful sortie from Vladivostok. She had destroyed 2 marus, a gunboat, an auxiliary cruiser, and a torpedoboat, crippled several other TBs, and captured a German steamer. Admiral Bulletsiev realized that she was in no condition to run the blockade, even at night, and so determined to do something about it. His plan was to sortie all his available ships to sweep the blockading Japanese away, meet Bogatyr, and escort her into harbor. "All available ships" meant just 4 BBs, 15 DDs, and the "Port Arthur Yacht Club", because Peresviet and Diana were still under repair from their engagment with the Chitose group and the other ships had not yet recovered from the sneak attack. Pobyeda had only returned to service the day before.
Bulletsiev sortied at sundown. He had not gone far when the twilight's last gleaming showed up Fuso and Takao fine on the port bow of his flagship, right amongst the "Yacht Club". Meanwhile, the screening destroyers reported 4 Japanese TBs on the port quarter. The situation was complicated by numerous minefields in the area, which made an orderly approach to the battle quite difficult.
While the destroyers turned about and chased the TBs away, herding them towards the shore batteries, Bulletsiev concentrated on the heavier ships. Fuso was Japan's first battleship, an ancient central battery ironclad now rerated as a cruiser. Thus, while her armor was worthless against modern battleship guns, it could stand up to most of the "Yacht Club's" weapons, except perhaps for the bow guns of Bobr and Sivuch. Because the Russian BBs were heading nearly directly at the Japanese ships, however, only Pobyeda could fire at first. This left the "Yacht Club" to carry the brunt of the action. The clippers and Gilyak took on Takao while Bobr and Sivuch brought their bow guns to bear on Fuso.
The Japanese were heading NW with the battleships to their N, the gunboats to their W, and the clippers to their SW. The Japanese turned 16 points to port in succession in an attempt to escape to the SE, while the Russian BBs turned 8 points to port to bring their broadsides to bear. Fire from the "Yacht Club" soon had Takao well alight and as she turned behind Fuso, her smoke obscured that ship so Sivuch and Bobr turned their attention to her. Meanwhile, the clippers had pulled ahead of the Japanese and shifted their fire to Fuso. Fortunately for the "Yacht Club", the Japanese concentrated their fire on Pobyeda during this time.
By the time the Russian battleships were all able to fire, Fuso was already heavily damaged from the "Yacht Club's" attentions and Takao was already sinking. Fuso now suffered the fire of all the Russian ships and soon exploded. There is some debate as to who fired the fatal shot, but the preponderance of the evidence suggests it was the 2ndary battery of Petropavlovsk. Nevertheless, the "Yacht Club" can claim to have done most of the damage to her before the explosion.
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